Nomad Lounge is a brand new lounge located in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park. It is situated in the same building as Tiffins which is also new. Tiffins is one of Disney’s ‘signature’ restaurants – the designation denotes it is one of their highest level of food and service that they offer. There are roughly 15 signature restaurants at Walt Disney World. The Nomad Lounge offers high end nibbles and refreshments.

The Nomad Lounge had an Adventurer’s Club type atmosphere, rich colors, dark woods, and unique decor gives it a British Colonial feel, slightly exotic – but also luxurious. It is open seating, both indoor or outdoor. I’m sure the outdoor seating will be very nice once the weather cools off, right now there are too many mosquitoes.

We ordered the vegetarian summer rolls and the cheese board.

Vegetarian Summer Rolls $7

These were really delicious, but very hard to eat. When they cut them in half like this, they are hard to hold together, they just want to fall apart. The outer wrapper is very chewy, be careful eating it. This was slightly spicy, the ponzu sauce was really complementary.

Selection of Artisanal Cheeses $12

The cheese selection was very nice. The chunky yellow one was an aged cow cheese, reminded me of cheddar. The white one on the left was a goat cheese, very mild though which was perfect for my taste, I don’t really like strong goat cheese. And the white one in the middle back was a tangy blue cheese. A small portion of marcona almonds, toasted bread (very crisp), and a gooseberry for accompaniments.

Kungaloosh Ale $8.75

If you are a fan of Sam Adams Winter Lager, you will probably really enjoy this Kungaloosh Spiced Excursion Ale, it has some unique spices and nutty finish. It went really well with the food.

Keep in mind the portion sizes are small, prices are a bit high – this is pretty typical for any of the lounges, especially those adjacent to signature restaurants. They are taking the Tables In Wonderland card here (20% discount for members – http://www.tablesinwonderland.com).

I’d say the best time to visit the Nomad Lounge would be around the last hour or hour and a half before the park closes. The crowd thinned out the later it got. I’d definitely go back and am also interested in trying Tiffins as well.

I am usually really good about not spending money, for instance, I don’t have tons of shoes, or designer bags, or fancy clothes. We kept the same TV for about 15 years because it was still “good”, basically a super heavy old-style 32″ Sony that lasted a really really long time. Most people were buying flat-screens back when they used to cost over $2,000. Not me.

My weakness is Disney stuff, I collect Christmas ornaments, kitchen and household items, Tsum Tsums, sometimes Disney pins, etc. Lately, I have just tried really hard to avoid buying anything from the Disney Store. I think what really woke me up, was that I was looking at my online order history, I saw that I had ordered once a month for about 4 months!!

Mickey Mouse Advent Calendar

The advent calendar took me about 5 years to actually purchase, I didn’t want to spend that much money on it. I eventually got it on sale (25% off). I usually don’t buy things at full price, and I usually will wait a while before making a purchase. My main impulse buys are sale items, when something is discounted I tend to allow myself to buy it – justifying it because it has been deeply discounted. That can add up.

Hallowreath (Halloween Wreath)

Now, given that I had ordered about 4 months in a row, what did I have to show for it? The Tsum Tsums just got stuck in the closet with the rest of the others, the Disney plates and bowls, just got stuck in the kitchen cabinets and aren’t getting used, and the Disney ornaments got put on a small tree in the closet for now. So, I’m not really even enjoying these items. I ordered a couple personalized towels, we’ve used those a few times, but all in all, I’m not really in need of anything else – even though I love Disney stuff. I was going gaga over the Alice in Wonderland and Star Wars Tsum Tsums – they were on clearance for $1.99 each, but I didn’t order anything.

It’s been good not spending the money, and it’s been nice not buying more clutter. I’d really like to set up a display area where I can set up my books, videos, DVDs, Disney toys, and items in a fun way, maybe get a corkboard for displaying pins. But for now, I’m going to keep resisting the urge to shop.

Just wanted to share a photo I took at the Country Bear Jamboree show. There is no flash photography allowed, but as you can see you can still get good photos without a flash.

It is a cute show, funny too. The songs are kinda ridiculous, but in a good way. It is really bizarre. The song “Blood on the Saddle” that Big Al sings is especially odd, it was written by Tex Ritter, who is John Ritter’s father (John Ritter as you probably remember was Jack Tripper from Three’s Company), just a bit of useless trivia.

If you haven’t ever seen the show, you should check it out. This is a short clip of one of the characters.

It has been many years since I’ve made a Semolina Cake. I remember purchasing a mix for it at a middle eastern store and had made it at home.

This cake pictured above is from a restaurant. It is one of my favorite Mediterranean desserts. It has the same sweetness as baklava, and that’s because it is drenched in the same simple syrup. They usually make a large pan of it, cut it into diamonds and place an almond in the center of each piece.

The consistency can be a bit grainy (like cornbread) but it is so delicious, the syrup makes it soft and moist. If you want to try making one at home, you can search for semolina cake recipes online, they also call it Basbousa, Basboosa, Harissa, Harisa, Harisi, there are many variations on the name. If you enjoy baklava, I’m sure you will love this.

Just baked a batch of Immaculate Baking Company’s Organic Fudge Brownies. They came out really well. The taste is rich and chocolaty, very sweet. The baking mix, which also contains tiny chocolate chips, only requires 1 stick of melted butter and 2 eggs to bring the mix together. (I think the box I had was an older version, the new directions say add 2 tablespoons of water as well).

It is a really thick batter, it actually formed a ball by the time I was done scraping the mix around the bowl. I had to push the batter down into baking pan. It had said on the box that you would have to push it into the pan. I’m glad it said something because it was way thicker than most mixes.

This batch took about 30 minutes to finish in a 350 degree oven. The end pieces got a bit crunchy, the center stayed pretty moist. Some people like the crunchier ends. Overall, I was very satisfied with the end result. Brownie mixes can be hit or miss, even when you follow all the instructions properly. It’s a good thing I didn’t cook it any longer, I think it would have really dried out. If you decide to make these yourself, be sure to set your timer and recheck as needed. I set my timer for 22, checked it and it was still soft, and then reset timer again for 8 minutes and it was done.

I’m glad there is an organic option available on the market, I’d definitely buy this mix again.